Having heard about this show and the effect it had on people, I decided to get as much as I could out of it, so I watched it alone at night, with the lights off except a motion-sensing porch light outside the window I was sitting by.

It had the desired effect, but what is stranger is the six coincidences that accompanied it - I have heard of people's subconscious/spirit arranging such coincidences where they could not have been done consciously, and I also wondered if God was helping by lending an artistic hand.

One coincidence: I've never seen animals on the porch at night in the year that we've been here, and this night I saw two. This first was before I had begun to watch, and I felt it was fun: a large dark toad, which sat still for a time, and then after a short hop it crawled rather than hopping, which looked quite strange.

Another was after I had finished watching, and was heading to bed, so very late - a car drove away from our neighbour's (the other half of the duplex), very fast. Only once before had I seen that car drive away fast (at which time there seemed to be some trouble from the voices I heard), and I don't believe ever so late at night. I hadn't been the only one up.

Also after I had watched it, and was going to bed, there was twice a sound of drumming in the ceiling, which I had heard almost every night in an old house we lived in in Ireland, but don't remember hearing in this house except perhaps once before.

Even more strange, as I was trying to sleep, there was at intervals a sound like the single crack creak of the floor when someone is walking extremely slowly. It was often and loud enough to keep me awake, and was not normal. Then I remembered there were dry chickpeas soaking on the kitchen counter near where I slept: they had kept me awake by such sounds once before, and I had put them in another room - I did so this time. Again, this had only happened once before in a year - why had my mother chosen that particular night?

Another strange thing was the behaviour of the motion-sensing porch light. Usually it is so sensitive that bugs keep it on almost continually. It would usually turn off and back on once or twice at most however late I stayed up. This night, however, it switched off and back on something like six or seven times.

The strangest thing was the second animal that I saw on the porch. While watching, a grey cat I had never seen before came onto the porch and stared up at me through the window for maybe a quarter minute. If you know what role cats play in the film, you can imagine what such a coincidence felt like. That was one point when I began to wonder if the subconscious could really arrange such things, and thinking that perhaps the Creator was lending his input.

It's brilliantly done. The legend around it is just as interesting as the show itself. While I do love it, the effect it had has been greatly exaggerated. Most adults would know it was obviously fake, but for young kids it is almost believable. Can understand why many did. OF course, many parents blamed the BBC for it... but you let them watch it, for petes sake! Spoiling the fun for everyone else, who missed out on watching it. Which is such a shame. Very entertaining program. Inspired a lot of the 'found footage' type horror films.

Incredibly realistic horror show, one of the greats. When that door swings open to the glory hole...you can just glimpse her, that was terrifying.

I was 12 when this aired.
I don't remember much talk or anticipation for Ghostwatch but on that following Monday it seemed the whole school had watched it. It created an amazing truly terrifying hush and buzz in the school grounds, everyone seemed uneasy about it; sharing their viewing experience and where they saw 'Pipes' throughout the show and things turned even more sinister when hearing about the effects it had on young people in it's aftermath, and unless you knew someone who recorded it you had to wait a long, long time before seeing it again and putting some of those demons to rest.

At that young age I had seen many horror films: the Exorcist, Fright Night, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Basket case and an uncut version of Evil Dead; a perk of my Father owning his own video/off license store, but this chilled me to the core and left me afraid to turnover in my slumber incase something stood in wait behind me.
It's vision is legendary, it's flaws are budgetary... best enjoyed alone. 5*

@BellaBooTillyBear

You're an idiot and you clearly don't know what you're talking about. I was there, aged 8 and I saw the show with my own eyes shit head. And I know for a fact that you haven't been ''blessed'' with better movies cause everything that has come out since has been crap. All you've had is rubbish like Scream, derivative toss like Paranormal activity and rip-off Ghostwatch style movies like The Blair witch project. And I don't care what you believe, it's a fact that the show caused the death of that boy and people suffered PTSS. It's easy to sit here in the light of day 30 years later criticizing a GREAT show - the scariest of all time, bar none!!!!!! You never even saw it and weren't there so fuck off.

!.5 hours of my life I will never get back, it was laughable, being only 3 when this aired I have had the luxury of much better movies since then but I am sorry I do NOT believe for one second that this caused the death of the lad or that it caused kids and adults alike PTSD, even movies (I know it isn`t a movie) way before this would definitely give kids the above, Exorcist and :Poltergeist come to mind. I watched Poltergeist when I was 12 and that was scary, sorry but nope and Craig Charles as much as I like the man was a bad choice he was too happy. The only good actresses were the kids especially Suzanne. I will give it a 3* since at the time they didn`t have the tech we have today and I suppose it airing on October 31st was supposed to make it fun, the only other good bit was the cat by the back door, that must of been chance you can`t tell cats what to do.

Just heard about this from a podcast and was glad I found it. Great! So much for Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity franchise. Ghostwatch was years before these franchises. Fun and scary and holds up!

I watched it with my mom. We caught it completely by accident, and it was already a couple of minutes in, so we missed the very beginning and did not realize it was fictional.
I'm really glad it happened that way, because, at least initially, we thought it was real.
I think we caught on pretty quickly, but those initial few minutes were jaw-dropping, because neither of us believe in ghosts.
It's still just as amazing today.

The Enfield scam on steroids !

Seriously surprised Parkinson lent his reputation to this poorly acted load of cobblers.
One thing I have learned over life is that is very hard to fake reality. You need to be extremely talented because our speech and mannerisms give us away very easily for those that have any skill in reading them. People inevitably can't maintain their credibility for very long without revealing they are acting a part.
This should not have all but the most gullible. Even an actor like Charles is completely over the top and clearly nowhere near in the real moment. The performances are wooden and clearly scripted. When people are genuinely scared it is obvious.

Thanks for the upload and the laughs this gave me as I struggled to understand how so many people were taken in by it. No wonder overseas call scammers do so well !

Hell yeah.

I just noted the police lady was smiling while I was watching although this program is good now then back then

Can’t believe, I have been living in this house since 2004. I love it even more since I came to know about Ghostwatch in 2013. Brilliant.

i cant be leave its 19 years awesome show

I've been looking everywhere for a place to watch this and finally found it on Reddit of all places! Amazing to find it here on the archive, absolutely a piece of horror history that must be preserved. A modern War of the Worlds type of report that sparked terror and imagination in people when it first aired! I was so upset I wouldn't be able to see it when I found it was scrubbed from every streaming site I could try.

Very effective! Top notch found footage/mockumentary style video, a must see if you haven't. Nothing in it is particularly novel from a fiction standpoint, it's kind of a standard haunting story. Very similar to the Enfield haunting that the Conjuring 2 is based on. Well I say I rather enjoyed this a heck of a lot more than the Conjuring 2 let me tell you! It's "nothing-special" story actually makes it work better, as it's a story everyone has heard before and makes it that much more plausible and believable.

Watch it but don't expect yourself to be wow'd or slammed into the back of your seat. Allow yourself to live in the setting, imagine flicking over to your local news channel and seeing this broadcast and feel that part of your brain that recoils at the thought that something like this could be real!

Fantastic, so glad I got to finally watch it!
Round and Round the Garden.
Like a Teddy Bear.

This story is basically the Enfield Poltergeist case, cranked up to 20. A very entertaining watch. The ending was a bit much.

I swear, if I would've saw this in 1992 I would have completely believed it. The atmosphere is absolutely incredible, the choice of actors is phenomenal, and the whole premise of this as a live coverage of a haunted house is a thing that was way far ahead of its time. As for a controversial TV show in the early 90s, I would have to say I still found this incredibly unsettling. I could feel practically every emotion that was coming out of the characters. This show combined elements of reality and fiction and made it impossible to tell if it was fake or not, and as for people watching on that October 31st night in 1992, everyone thought this drama/horror fiction story was completely and utterly 100% true, and this was happening right before their very eyes. Everyone thought this whole one-off TV special felt so real, and to be honest, I probably would have thought it was real too if I was born before 1992. You can tell that this whole TV special took a lot of time and effort to make it perfect, and it is just a perfect example of the greatest TV specials. If this show was created in the more recent 2000s or 2010s, I think more people would've believed it, especially if the BBC didn't give the notice saying it was fake and scripted. If BBC didn't give that warning beforehand people would have 100% believed this whole story to be true, but it kinda took a dark turn with the controversy when someone blamed their son's death on this TV special, which resulted in no re-runs of Ghostwatch to ever be aired, but then eventually found its way on a home DVD release. This story still feels so real even to this day, and it really immerses you in the experience. This was way far ahead of its time, and the fact that this was made to feel like it was happening right at the minute was insanely cool and bone-chilling, even if the whole haunted house segment was just a pre-recorded video. It still felt incredibly believable and I was unnerved throughout the entire duration of this TV special. I was startled and this whole TV special is just simply immersive and amusing. Nonetheless, this whole show gets a rare PERFECT score from me: 10/10.

What has made this show a true Cult Classic is that, it's original airing on October 31, 1992, and the viewers actually believed it to be a live special. I raised a few eyebrows of the viewers & and studio execs alike. They knew that if the viewers had been told that it's just a movie, it would have never gotten the same viewer reception or ratings it received.
For the lovers of the "Found Footage" Horror genre, "Ghostwatch" still resides high on the list, and appreciated for the way it was aired.
It's still considered controversial, and IS STILL banned in several European countries.
Whether you are new to "Ghostwatch", or have seen it many times, it is still a fun rollercoaster ride of emotions. So, pop some popcorn, grab a beverage, bring on the Good & Plenty's & Twizzlers, and just sit back & enjoy the ride.

I wanted to see what the fuss was about but could not find a way to view it in the States. Happy to have seen it. Thank you!

ur wrong

And I love this!
Call me out if I’m wrong

I remember watching this live, and freaking out when i saw 'pipes' by the window, even tried phoning in.... I didnt get that it was fiction at all at the time, still get the creeps watching it!!!

thanks for leaking this this show was actually awesome.

The Blair witch project before it's time classic film

I was quite young when I watched it live on the BBC, I remember the next day everyone was talking about it because it felt so real. Watching this again, that really is the beauty of this show as it is portrayed in such a way that if it didn’t have writing credits or the announcer before saying it was a story people would 100% believe it, even now I think. For that reason, I understand the BBCs reservations about this program and it was only recently that they released this onto DVD. They have never re-aired it since it was originally aired. In a time before found video genre films such as the Blair Witch Project or Unfriended this was truly ahead of its time,I think if it had come out now it would be significantly more liked. Anyway, enough backstory let’s begin the review, first of all, Michael Parkinson is the perfect voice for this show, coarse but reassuring, believing but skeptical. The way he portrays the character is also perfect as he goes along with the story and believes some things however is also quite sceptical using contrast to add more of that magical realism to the show. Another thing that adds realism to the show is that the celebrities in the show play themselves which make it feel more like a documentary than a drama. Next, Sarah Greene who plays the role of the on scene reporter, she is also a perfect fit for the role with more contrasts, such as, naïve but knowledgeable, calm but worried. She is particularly good at conveying the atmosphere and emotion in the house making you feel more invested in the story that is being told she also has somewhat of a character arch throughout the story starting of sound slightly sceptical but over time quickly having less skepticism as the story evolves and more paranormal events happen. Next, Craig Charles, here he plays the reporter outside, unfortunately we mainly see him briefly at the beginning, however he does a good job of starting and setting a good foundation for the story. Next is Mike Smith, Mike plays the role of the telephone line manager, he is very effective in the use of tone to convey different atmospheres complimenting Michael Parkinson’s skepticism at the start and getting more serious towards the end with the social worker call which is crucial to the story. For example in the first third of the program, he talks about a call that came in quite light heartedly and at the end of that call Michael Parkinson dismisses that call as a prank helping the gradual shift of the show’s tone and atmosphere beginning que light and almost homey and satirical and gradually becoming darker and scarier. Next, Gillian Bevan who is playing Dr Lin Pascoe the in studio ghost expert, she does an effective job in her role sounding knowledgable however also sounding outlandish at times as well, these attributes work well with Michael Parkinson’s character’s attributes as if she sounds outlandish then it almost proves Michael’s skepticism and when Michael is being skeptical she can disprove it believable by sounding like she knows what she is talking about. Next, Bríd Brennan playing the mum Of The Children, she is a believable 90s mum who portrays anxiousness, anger and sadness amazingly, sometimes her acting isn’t the greatest however the combination of the children and Sarah Greene it is hard to notice and overall she was quite good. Overall, this program was amazing for its time and even if it was released now, it would be amazing even amongst the large amount of found footage and horror movies that are released in this era. This movie definitely deserves 5/5 because it managed to fill people into thinking a drama was real, the story and the premise were amazing, the choices of actors were perfect for their respective roles and the actors portrayals of their respective characters were of the highest quality as well.
Short Review:
5/5 In it’s own league. Way ahead of its time.
-Cameron Ball 2020

Pretty scary stuff especially if you think about how many people believed this was real telecast. A watershed mark for horror television.